Bamberg is a special place for us. Homer Simpson conjures up a magical land of chocolate when he thinks about Belgium. And that is exactly the hallucinogenic drooling state we fall into when we think of the smokey, beery town Bamberg. Whilst both of us had been before, a weekend in Bamberg together had been on our to-do list for years.
Why Bamberg for a weekend?
Once upon a time Sam and I both thought craft beer was the way forward. When we saw a new beer on a tap list, we would dive right in. We didn’t constrain ourselves to specific styles or ABV’s, and new was exciting. We have both come full circle, jaded as we are, and now opt for solid, reliable, consistent drinks that we actually want to finish… and then have another. No more drain pours. No more £9 beers that make us grimace as we obligingly sip.
Don’t get us wrong – we are still adventurous people and drinkers – but we know that a lot of the time ‘craft beer’ translates to ‘novice brewing,’ and if you don’t have enough practice in to make perfect, you’re going to brew some duds.
Enter Germany. Germany doesn’t do ‘craft beer.’ Germany has been perfecting its brewing technique since (before) 1516, when it declared that no drink could be called ‘beer’ unless it exclusively consisted of four ingredients. Water, malt, hops, and yeast. This law, called Reinheitsgebot, is often referred to as the German ‘purity law’ and it has helped shape some of the best breweries in the world.
If you drill further into this obsession with brewing excellence, and brewing lager excellently in particular, you will find that the southern part of Germany, Bavaria, is where the best of the best originate. We are fortunate enough to have visited Bavaria a few times, for both work and pleasure. We’ve been for Oktoberfest (don’t do it unless you have a table booking, it can be amazing but horrible). We’ve had work trips to hop farms and malt roasters. Munich has been a great destination for a quick weekend break.
Munich has six official city breweries – Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, and Spaten. The city in itself is worth a visit, but we’ll write about that another time. And if you haven’t had Augustiner before, exit this blog immediately and order some in. It is well and truly the best example of a classic lager you will ever find. Ever. Anywhere. Really, get out of here NOW.
With our beer obsession shifting from ‘craft’ to ‘classic,’ we love a trip to Bavaria (or the Czech Republic, birthplace of pilsner). We will happily revolve our entire itinerary for one of these weekends around drinking good beer. We are but simpletons after all.
Within Bavaria, the magical land of lager, is one town in particular that should be considered its honourary if not official capital – Bamberg. Bamberg has a population of 77,000 people, is home to nine top notch breweries all within walking distance of each other, and is all set in a town so beautiful that it is in itself a protected UNESCO site.
Sam and I had both visited Bamberg previously, but never together. And with the town not being particularly convenient to get to/from, we had put this trip on the back burner. So when British Airways released a Sunday night Nuremburg to Heathrow route (Nuremburg airport is a 40 minute train ride from Bamberg) we immediately booked a weekend trip. We got an 18:30 flight out of Gatwick to Munich on a Friday night. We had a few beers and dinner in central Munich when we got in. The next morning we took a train straight to Bamberg, unashamedly drinking 11am train beers – nay, Augustiners – en route.
Friday Night in Munich
A quick functional stop-off en route to Bamberg, though worthy of a trip in its own right.
If you’re not as time-strapped as Sam and I and you live in London, you can easily get a direct flight into Nuremburg as well as out. If you live anywhere else, getting a flight into Munich is your best bet to get to Bamberg. We landed at about 9pm and immediately hopped on the underground to get into town. We suggest downloading the Deutsche Bahn app ahead of time and booking your tickets in advance rather than fumbling around when you land.
It was about 30-40 minutes to get from Munich airport to our first stop, the Tegernsee taproom. Tegernsee isn’t technically one of the Munich breweries but is based just outside town, and produces some fantastic lagers. A couple of these were sculled and we ran off (with travel bags still in tow) to one of the many Augustiner pubs in town. We regretted not stopping into the Schneider taproom, directly across from Tegernsee, when we had the chance, as it was absolutely ragin, and we weren’t allowed in later due to being a private party.
There was only time for a few beers and a bit of food before a 1am last call. We walked back to our hotel, Cocoon Stachus, chosen for its location near Munich train station for our early morning train.
From Munich to Bamberg
There are quick ICE trains, and less quick regional trains. As life goes, one comes with a greater price tag than the other. We opted for the slower regional train so we could pick up a “Bayern train ticket”. This ticket bought us unlimited travel anywhere in the Bavarian region as long as it was on a regional (rather than faster ICE) train. We spent €34 across the two of us for this ticket which took about three hours. If you wanted a two hour journey on the ICE train, you can book this four to six weeks in advance for €56 per person, with airline-style pricing – becoming more expensive the closer to the travel date you get.
Zum Sternla pitstop
Bamberg is a small town with the train station located close to the centre. For this reason Bamberg is an ideal weekend destination. The train arrived at about 11am and we headed straight for our first beer and an early lunch (generally you won’t find a good breakfast in Europe which is brutal on a hangover) at Zum Sternla. This is the most modern brewery in town and famous for its kellerbier. And it’s literally en route from the station to the centre of town. We grabbed a beer and a bite and headed to Hotel Graupner, to drop off our bags before heading out for the day.
We took a quick visit to Gruner Market for a couple of coffees and to admire the local asparagus.
Then to Eckerts Wirsthaus for what I had recalled to be my favourite beer on a previous Bamberg trip – my first ever Zwickelpils. More than the quality of beer at this spot are the incredible views of grid patterned houses dropping straight into the canal, as the patio seating here sits directly on the bridge.
Touring the best biergartens on the outskirts
We took advantage of our relative sobriety and ventured up the hill in the sun. There’s only one hill, you’ll know when you find it. We were heading to Greifenklau for a more substantial lunch, and beers. This was a real local spot and had some incredible value beers and food.
Two Helles (each) and schnitzels later, we continued over to Spezial Keller. Yes, it really is Spezial. It has a panoramic patio perched right at the top of that hill I keep referring to, overlooking the town below. We had a Kellerbier, one of our favourite beers of all time. It is an unfiltered lager which one could have thought was poured ‘straight from the keller’ – even if it isn’t. Our server was kind enough to persuade us to get their house specialty, the Marzen next. We needed a bit of convincing as it isn’t typically our favourite beer style. It tends on the darker, sweeter, and heavier side. This version, however, wound up being one of our favourite beers on the trip.
Remember when I called Bamberg a smokey, beery town? That’s because it’s the malt roasting capital of Germany, and therefore the world. The smell of roasted malt often fills the town. It is equal parts wild and delicious. Bamberg is therefore famous for having smokey lagers in addition to classic styles.
Back into town for Schlenkerla
Anyway, this is where things start to get a bit hazy. Remember we’re six 500ml beers in now. We are professionals, but don’t expect to get the same level of detail for the rest of the day. Most of the people in Bamberg are in the same place as we are, and so we descend down ‘the hill,’ away from the civility of large sprawling beer gardens and into the narrow streets of the centre of town crowded with beer drinkers.
Our next stop is Schlenkerla. I have a Schlenkerla addiction. If, when in London, I see either their Rauchbier, a dark smokey lager so light in texture you would never guess it was quite so dark, or their Helles, which has a faint hint of smokiness to it, I have to buy it. Visiting their taproom in Bamberg is such a treat that I will restrain myself from over-writing it.
Firstly, there is no bar. There is a hatch with a barrel sitting on the counter. You do not place an order. You either have a half litre of Rauchbier straight from the barrel, or you get the hell out and make way for the person behind you in line. There is no menu or price list. That is your choice. It is the best choice that Schlenkerla could have made on your behalf and they won’t have it any other way. It’s this attitude that gets us with German beer. They don’t pursue greener pastures because they know not to mess with perfection. Schlenkerla does take it a step further though, and they don’t even serve their Helles at their own taproom. Because, again, their taproom is a hatch with a barrel. We are kicking ourselves for not getting a photo of this.
We got one or two here. I can’t imagine it was just one but I can’t remember either way. From here we got dinner somewhere not memorable, and not just because we were eight beers in.
Actually, right after our one hour nap we went straight back to Schlenkerla. The streets were packed with idiots like us. I think we tried but failed to find more dinner.
Erm, we went back to Eckerts Wirsthaus next. I fell up the stairs of our hotel and got carpet burn on both of my knees.
The Sunday morning after. Breakfast and biergarten.
The next morning was tough, because we didn’t have a great dinner. I have a tendency to get hangry, and Germany doesn’t really do breakfast. This spells disaster for poor Sam, who has learnt to mute out my cries for help.
After a subpar yet expensive breakfast, we sweated out the previous night with a climb up the hill to Wilde Rose Brau Keller. It has the biggest biergarten in town, and apparently an entertainment stage where a German rap group was inexplicably rapping on stage to a crowd of families and elderly people on a Sunday at 11:30am. It was all very odd and the beers themselves weren’t as good as the biergarten.
Final Bamberg weekend beers
We went back down the hill with our final destination firmly in mind, but stopped at Klosterbrau for a couple of beers. Sam had their house specialty, a Schwartzbier (dark lager), and I opted for their Kellerbier because I wasn’t in the mood for a dark beer. Sam’s beer was a million times better, and so the lesson was learned again – always go for the house special.
We passed by the hotel to grab our bags and set off for Mahrs Brau, located just a 10 or 15 minute walk from the train station that would take us to the airport. We LOVE Mahrs Brau – the beers, the branding, the incredible glassware – and the lunch did not disappoint. It’s a bit out of the way and neither ‘in the town’ or ‘up the hill,’ so it’s pretty much just locals. We stayed here for a few beers and lunch, possibly swiped a couple of their incredible steins as a memento, and headed to the train station a little early to pick up a couple of roadies for the journey.
And there you have it. A very brief but thorough weekend visit to the magical town of Bamberg. Perched atop a hill and full of delicious breweries. If you are traveling from afar rather than just London, and you go to Munich, we really recommend taking the trip to Bamberg while you’re over, it really is a spezial place to visit.